Vis Diving Spots

Tatinja

dive site type: naturedifficulty: mediumdepth range: 0-45 mdistance from the diving center: 5.5 nmshort characteristic: a vertical wall, which – due to its size – resembles a big block of flats, where every hole in the wall is like a window with an inhabitant looking on the street

The southern coast of the Stari Grad Bay is harder to access that the northern coast and the peninsula of Kabal. Here the slopes are steeper and the peaks quickly reach 300 m above sea level. Nevertheless there are plenty of picturesque coves, being perfect as escape places for the tourists fed up with crowds. Some of them can be reached with gravel-stony roads, but the majority might be accessed from the sea only. One of such coves is called Tatinja and the near diving site was named after it. In the cove there are usually no waves and sea currents, what makes it appropriate for the beginners and the training, but the diving along the nearby wall, located on the east side of the cove, even the technical divers can find interesting.

The wall is steep, in some places vertical, in some even negative. It starts even about the surface and goes down to the depth of about 45 m. Its height and length connote a big, 10-story, building. With numerous holes it is like a block of flats, where every hole is a window. Moreover, every “window” has a resident. In the shallows, at the depth of about 10 m, there are numerous fishes, among which the damselfishes are particularly worth mentioning, swimming across the holes as if they were having fun. Deeper the inhabitants are calmer. There are some small moray eels looking around and waiting for weak sea currents to bring them food. There are also many different crustaceans, like spiny lobsters, squat lobsters and slipper lobsters. An attentive diver will also spot various shrimps hiding in the holes.

Diving in this place can be organised in a few different ways. In can be a drift dive along the wall in both directions. Direction of the diving usually depends on the existence of the sea currents and on the time of the day – angle of the sunbeams. When the divers run on to Stari Grad, they usually finish the dive close to the place where the wall is negative and where the fishes are making characteristic circles swimming up and down. On the other hand the dive can be also done from the moored boat. When the dive starts or ends in the bay, the divers have a chance to look for octopuses and seahorses in the beginning or during the safety stops.